Touchscreen-based user computing devices, such as smartphones, tablets, e-readers, touch-enabled laptops, and touch-enabled desktop computers, are commonly used to request content from servers, via the Internet. Such content may include an advertisement, or other type of display window, which is overlaid on the displayed content until a particular portion of the advertisement is touched by the user. The portion which must be touched to close the advertisement may be a small “X” in a corner of the advertisement.
On relatively small screens, particularly smartphone screens, it is often difficult for the user to accurately touch the designated portion of the screen to close the advertisement. This may result in the user unintentionally touching an active portion of the advertisement instead of the close “button,” which may, in turn, result in an undesired activation of an animation or even an undesired navigation to a different webpage. This can be a very frustrating and annoying experience for the user.
Such undesired activations of an advertiser's webpage can increase the advertiser's costs, because the advertisement may be paid for based on a particular cost-per-click (CPC). Therefore, an advertiser purchasing advertisements on mobile devices on a CPC basis may find that they are getting a very high click-through rate (CTR) but a low return on investment (ROI) due to accidental click-throughs. This may annoy current and potential customers and may result in a negative brand perception, which is a significant concern for large brands.